August 2, 2015 -- At Sea
Sky: cloudy
Temperature: 24C
After exiting Tsugaru Strait around midnight, Diamond Princess sailed along the east coast of Japan the whole day. As usual, there were a lot of activities planned on board for passengers of all ages. What I noticed was the Interdenominational Worship at 8:15. Princess is one of the few cruise lines that continues to schedule Sunday services for their passengers. Thank you, Princess!
The pulpit set up.
When we entered, Chris, one of the entertainment staff, told us that they don't have a clergy on board and that the service will depend on volunteers showing up. We told them that MOR is an ordained minister and we will be glad to help out if needed. He was delighted and asked MOR to lead the service. We ended up having Ruth, a retired teacher from northern California leading with the singing of hymns, MOR delivered a short sermon, and then Ruth lead the fellowship/prayer at the end. We had a good fellowship with the 15 or so passengers attending the service through songs and prayers. Princess even provided the pianist for the service. Well done, Princess!
I should mention that we had a beautiful Sunday service on another Princess cruise in Alaska a few years back. It was lead by one of the crew members and it was beautifully done. He did not do the sermon, but lead the singing, scripture reading, and an inspirational reading at that service. I was totally impressed.
Printed programs
After the 40-minute service we went to the service desk and check on our onboard account. We had quite a large sum left on our accounts and we wanted to make sure that whatever's left will be back into our hands. Everything worked out fine.
Then we did a couple of activities and then another load of laundry before lunch.
This was the one and only time we had lunch in the MDR.
The burger that I had was very good.
In the afternoon, I had the dreaded duty of packing our luggage. I turned the TV on and watched the "Sound of Music" movie to make the chore a little bearable. We had to have our bags out before we go to dinner that evening.
A couple of pictures of the sunset.
Our last dinner on board. I ended up ordering from the Japanese menu that evening.
Cold Tofu
Oh, it was also the Baked Alaska Parade night.
Teriyaki Chicken
Pork Belly
Rice and Soup. All very good!
One last creme brulee. Wonderful as usual.
Leo and Megumi, our fantastic waiter and assistant.
One more shot of our beds.
There was the "Sound of Music" Sing-along that night.
With printed copies of the lyrics.
I was disappointed that it was not a showing of the whole movie like when we were on the Crown. It was just like karaoke, going through the songs with words projected on the screen. The background singers were definitely not the original cast. Well, at least they had three crew members leading the singing.
Including Chris on the left.
The whole thing was over in 15 minutes.
One last night on the Diamond!
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